


Das Schlimmste Erwarten

by MrMoonPie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Foreign Witches on Tour, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Post-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Wards, pureblood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrMoonPie/pseuds/MrMoonPie
Summary: “Das Beste hoffen, das Schlimmste erwarten”."Hope for the best, expect the worst."A muggleborn has one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight written on her back, so she resolved not to find him.Sirius Black has other ideas.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

Intense burning rolled its way across her shoulder blade, the sensation of a million tiny needles drilling the name into her skin. The feeling drowned out the room as she hid in her dorm’s showers, curled up into a ball beneath the chilling spray.

The pain was one that most expected when they came of age. The etching of a beloved’s name appeared on their skin when magic deemed them ready, the black ink spiralling in the handwriting of the soulmate.

A soulmate was somebody that you would click with. Their family magiks would take you into their arms and claim the bond between you. It was not forced, but the bond between two soulmates was all-consuming, so much so that many chose not to live without their other half when they passed. The soulmate given was one assigned by the magiks – some called it Fate.

As the cold spray numbed the burning, she lifted her head from her arms, able to look up without her sight blurring from the shock of the sensation. Long, jagged scribbles had been stamped on her shoulder-blade in crimson, spelling out the foreign letters of “Sirius Orion Black”. Though notably foreign, anybody from Europe would recognise the name of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight… even if she was a muggleborn. In her mind, it was one of the worst outcomes.

_A pureblood family._

That was what rang through her head as she looked into the bathroom mirror, pulling at her skin as she read the words backwards with a little trouble on her back. Tears welled up in her almond eyes, a moment of vulnerability befalling her as she reeled from the snapback of the realisation. The long lines of her tan skin looked like they had been moulded around the text.

Soulmates had been something of a beautiful novelty that had come to her attention when she had joined the wizarding world, and for her soulmate to be someone from such a distinguished pureblood family? She would never be accepted.

“ _Shit_.” Was all that came out of her mouth. Green eyes staring into green eyes as she stared back at herself in the mirror, registering the droplets that fell from her eyes and that a frown that twitched at her lips.

She had already been shipped from her home country for school because the one she was supposed to go to didn’t accept muggleborns, so what was she supposed to do with a soulmate who would inevitably have the same views. There was no way he would accept her. There was absolutely no way… so she just resolved to never try to find him.

A man from the Twenty-Eight would expect a pureblood. A broodmare of sorts to bare children, but little more than that. More importantly, in her mind, some of the old families had been known to simply make undesirable soulmates _disappear_ , and she was quite sure that her very being alive shoved her within that classification.

Rubbing the tears from her eyes and dabbing cold water beneath her waterline, she smiled at the mirror, wrapping a towel around her body high enough to hide the mark should her roommates be awake. If her soulmate wouldn’t have her, she was going to do well for herself. She was _smart_ , she was _confident_ , and fuck anyone who would never think so. That was what she resolved, because, fuck that, she was worth more than her blood.

Sneaking back into her room, she closed the curtains around her bed and redressed. It was a small single bed, but it had become a home away from home for her at Koldovstoretz after Durmstrang had rejected her for her blood status.

“Christa?” A voice called, “You spent a long time in the shower, are you okay?”

She opened her curtains after straightening her robes and looked at her roommate who still lay half-asleep in her bed. Oktyabrina was her name. A sweet girl with a heart double the size of anyone she had ever met (other than her own mother of course). Her pale blonde hair was piled messily on her head, skewed from being slept on, and pillow indents lined her face, but she was beautiful. The knowledge of her friend’s beauty often made Christa touch her own dark, curly locks out of self-doubt. She was someone who always looked amazing but was also so down-to-earth. She was so real and genuine that not only was she beautiful on the outside, but she was gorgeous on the inside as well.

Christa gave a small laugh, her smile strained but genuine, “I’m all good, the amount I must have sweat last night, oh my god, I stank.”

The sleepy giggle Oktya gave made her chest lighten, “As long as you’re okay.”

She had people she cared about who also cared about her, she would be fine without the name written on her back. His inevitable blood bigotry had no place in her life, and she tried to believe she was fine with that.

Unfortunately, he would always be her soulmate, no matter what she told herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is not a one-shot, sorry for the mistake! Put up the first chapter because it was an idea that had been banging around inside my noggin and honestly just putting something out there always incentivizes me to do something with it.

Leaving Koldovstoretz after spending seven years amongst her classmates was one of the hardest things she had ever done. Despite finishing her Unifying Wizard Examinations (UWE for short, but most students just called it “Ew”) with the top marks she could obtain, there was no satisfaction in leaving the home that had wormed its way into her heart.

The years spent in the Russian school were something precious to Christa. Her dormmates were the most wonderful people she had ever met, and she adored the teachers that had coached her through the UWE (she had dropped the professors she hadn’t liked after her disaster of a fifth year, leaving her with six subjects to take to the end).

“You’ll come over to the estate during the summer, won’t you Christa?” Oktya had wrapped her arms around her waist, holding onto her best friend before they left the school. Her blue eyes looked up at her friend affectionately, pleading Christa to see her as soon as was possible for the both of them.

Christa smiled at her friend, but the position she was hugging her in was very awkward for the both of them considering Oktya was quite a bit taller, but had spread her legs in an awkwardly wide split to rest her head against Christa’s sternum. 

“I’d never miss a chance to see your Ma, Oak, but looking down at you is weird as hell,” She laughed, “Get off me, you oaf.”

Her friend grinned, unwrapping her arms from her friend’s waist and using Christa’s shoulders to pull herself out of the awkward splits that she had lowered herself into.

Christa instead wrapped her arms around the taller girl, not wanting to leave the best friend she had made seven years ago.

“I promise I’ll see you really soon,” She said, her voice cracking slightly as she was hit with the weight of their departure after the festivities that had come to pass, “I just need to sort stuff out with my Ma. I really will come and see you when I’m all done back home.”

Oktya’s eyes went glassy when she heard the emotion well up in Christa’s voice.

“I’ll text you as much as I can. And don’t worry about that mark, girlie, if he’s worth you, he’ll have to work for it, and if he’s not then we can get married because lord knows I’m never going to find anyone,” Oktya grinned, a stray tear falling down her cheek as she smiled at her friend.

She had told her friend about the mark not too long after she had found it. Oktya knew the consequences of being marked into a pureblood family as she was from an old family as well. Thankfully, the Russian dynasty didn’t care much for blood politics, and as long as Oktyabrina herself didn’t marry a muggle (being the Цесаревич had some limitations), they kept themselves uninvolved.

Christa looked at her for a second. “I’m gonna miss you so fucking _much_.”

Both girls smiled at each other and unwrapped themselves from each other. They knew that they would see each other soon, but they had spent years living with each other, and now they needed the space to start their own careers in their chosen fields.

Giving their last goodbyes to each other, they walked away from each other, using their respective disapparation cubicles to travel back home. Oktya went back to St Petersburg and Christa went back to Germany.

-

Arriving back in Germany was odd. It was a homecoming bittered by the thought of never being able to go back to a place that she considered a second home. Despite her mother still living in her childhood home, there was very little to come back to.

The long summers that she went home were never fun, but her mother appreciated her company after months of living alone.

Pulling up to the house, suitcase in hand, was an almost surreal experience having usually stored a lot of her luggage at Koldovstoretz during holidays. Wizarding books and equipment had never been brought home before, and Christa was slightly unnerved by the mixing of the two worlds. It had been as if she was living two separate lives: one as a wizard, and the other as her mother’s daughter. 

Now, with a trunk packed with everything she had magically achieved in her seven years in the magical school, it was very clear that nothing would be the same again. 

“Christine! _Willkommen zuhause_!” Her mother opened the front door, smiling at her from just behind the threshold. As customary, she held a small goody bag of items that she prepared every time Christa came home.

“Mama! _Ich bin daheim_!” She called back, a grin on her face as she looked at her mother’s smile. Despite being lined with stress, her mother was a very beautiful woman with big curls, a round face and a penchant to cheeky humour when in a good mood. The laughter lines on her face were new, and Christa was glad to see the crow’s feet around her eyes grow with time as she smiled and laughed more.

“Now bring that suitcase in, girly, you must be tired.”

There were times where her mother obviously forgot that she was a wizard. Then again, Christa often did not talk about magic in the house due to her mother’s mistrust of everything ‘nonsensical’, and she wasn’t entirely sure that her mother realised that the trip to and from the magical school wasn’t a days journey.

“It was a good journey, Mama, just took longer to say goodbye to everyone than I thought,” Christa grinned at her mother as she leaned down to hug the slightly shorter woman at the door before shuffling her trunk through the doorway, “There was also much to pack, I didn’t realise how much shit I had collected over the years.”

Her mother laughed, the sound more fluid and seemed to come easier to her than the other times that Christa had come home.

“It’ll be weird to have you back, but it always hard to let you go,” Her mother picked the trunk from Christa’s hands, “Christ, what do you put in here?”

Christa knew not to argue with her mother’s insistence to always take her bag, and instead plucked the gift bag out of her mother’s hands.

“I’ll make you a cup of tea, Mama, then we can talk about what you have been doing, and who is making you this happy,” Christa said with a cheeky smile as a blush spread across her mother’s cheeks. She gasped, slapping her daughter on the arm with her free hand.

“Christa!” She admonished, “I raised you better than to tease your dear old mother.”

“Of course, Mama, anything for you Mama.”

While her mother pulled her trunk into the house and up the stairs, Christa took off to the kitchen to put on the kettle to make her mother’s favourite English tea. It was something that her father always used to bring back from his work trips. It was a link to the past, and a way of remembering what he loved and what he did to make them both happy.

The usual brand of Earl Gray stood proud at the front of the mug cupboard. Pulling it out along with her father’s favourite mugs for her and her mum to drink from, she waited for the kettle to boil.

She was happy that her mother looked more alive than she had in years. After the death of her father, the widow had fallen into a progressively depressive state. It was a time in which Christa desperately wanted to be away from the house to avoid the feelings both her father’s death and her mother’s state induced, but also wanted to be there to take care of her mum.  
It wasn’t since her father had walked the earth that she had seen her mother this happy. A new man in her mother’s life was a not a bad thing by any stretch, and that was the only explanation for her mother's new found joy that she could think of. 

Settling down in the sitting room with two cups of tea sat on their respective sofa-side tables. The light brown concoctions made with Earl Gray and a single splash of almond milk steamed away as Christa sat on one of the smaller loveseats, knees drawn to her chest.

“Come Mama, have a seat and tell me about the lucky man!”

Her mother’s head stuck round the door, a playful scowl pulling at the stress creases that lined her otherwise youthful face.

“Don’t be cheeky with me,” Her voice was an octave higher than usual, sounding as if she was trying to stop laughing, “I need some brownies to get me through.”

So, with brownies sat on her mother’s tray and cups of tea settled in both their hands, Christa began the unforgiving questioning regarding her mother’s male friend.

-

“No, you have to be joking!”

“Of course not, _Bärchen_. He cooked an entire picnic basket worth of it!”

Christa laughed at her mother’s dramatic retelling of how they met. His name was apparently Mikael, and he was a translator for the government. Better yet, he was a wizard.

Her mother grinned at her as she talked about this Mikael, her face lighting up. She was happy for the first time since her husband died, and despite the slight bitter feeling that welled up in Christa’s chest, she was happy for her, and wanted to support her mother in every capacity she could.

But Christa knew she couldn’t stay with her mother for long, even if she would stay in Germany for a time to build her career. With coming home came the awareness that being coddled in her mother’s house was not going to allow her to truly stretch herself.

It would be something she would discuss with her at a later date. Her mother was too happy at the moment to discuss her impending departure from her mother’s house once again. It was as she had said when Christa came home, ‘It was always hard to let you go’. Christa could see it on her face every time she waved goodbye.

Sending her daughter into a world she didn’t have much awareness, and therefore was very little help regarding any advise she could give, was an unnerving experience, and Christa wanted to spare her mother for a while before they discussed her next magical venture.

She loved her mother. At least this time she would have someone to take care of her when Christa was gone.

With that conversation may also come the discussion regarding the name printed across her back, and what exactly that meant.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving the nest

“Mama, I promise I’ll be back when I get holiday,” Christa said, looking at her mother who had started to tear up as her suitcases were being rolled out of the door.

“I know _Bärchen,_ I will just miss having you around again,” A small smile flitted across her face, “You are truly the light in my life, Christianne. Truly, since your father passed, you have been the model daughter, and the model person.”

Christa looked up at her mum as she stood at the bottom of the doorstep, her dark curls pulled up into a messy bun, ready for the journey. A tight smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she looked at her mother’s olive skin and light eyes, cataloguing them into her mind.

She had stayed home for almost half a year, keeping an eye on her mother’s progress as she moved into a steady relationship with Mikael. He had become a constant presence in her mother’s life, and had eventually become a good friend to her too.

It hurt that she was leaving again, despite it being the best choice for her future, but she felt as if he was a figure that would take care of her mother, as fragile as she was. Between the nightmares of her father’s death, and the inability to truly understand her own daughter’s life, she lived life day-by-day, afraid that her father’s fate would be her daughter’s.

It was something that Christa had found out after she had awoken to her mother’s screams just over a month after she had first arrived back from Koldovstoretz.

It was the knowledge of Christa’s soulmate that had seeped beneath her mother’s skin, allowing seeds of doubt to grow over her daughter’s future and health.

* * *

_4 Months Ago_

Her mother sat straight within her chair as Christa bared her back to both her and Mikael. He had insisted on being there for the explanation after she had told him that she would be discussing the subject. It would have an impact on his relationship with her after all.

Despite knowing that they would be discussing soulmates, not even Mikael was prepared to see the scratchy letters on her back. His eyes traced the last name. 

_Black_.

An English pureblood family is known to marry within their own cousins to preserve the bloodline. Two heirs had been brought to the world, and it would seem that the person that he would consider his step-daughter was fated to one of them.

“ _Bärchen_ _,” Her mother breathed, looking at the bold ink that was scarred into her skin._

_With a paling face, she slumped into her seat, and fell deeper into Mikael’s embrace, welcoming the warmth to help chase away the icy realisation._

_“You have soulmates,”_ Her _voice was unsteady, “This is… madness.”_

 _“_ Nathalie, listen to me,” Mikael said steadily, looking down at the fragile woman, “Soulmates are given at the time of maturity, providing that both members of the bond are still alive. It is a process that every witch and wizard go through.”

“Christ alive, what sort of twisted God would preordain your fated, is there no choice?” Her mother gasped, “Mikael?”

Leaving her mother and her boyfriend for a moment as they discussed Mikael’s soulmate (whom she was sad to say had passed away before they had even met, leaving the words to fade into nothingness), Christa stepped into the hallway, sighing a deep breath. Consciously, she relaxed her shoulders, urging the tension that had crept into her muscles to unclench.

The reaction to such news was not unexpected, but she understood that it was yet another part of her life that her mother had never known. Each time a new subject was breached, a steady silence fell between the two as her mother processed all that she was missing within her life.

Christa supposed it was a shame that she could not share everything with her mother.

There was much that her mother would never know. The subject of the ongoing war in England would never be breached. She distrusted magic enough that knowledge of a magical war would not be conducive to her mental health. It was a lie that weighed heavily on both Christa and Mikael, as they had stayed up to talk about how to best handle the subject of the magical world around her mother after she had retreated to bed.

Despite having inserted himself into their very comfortable unit of two, he had helped her a great deal.

* * *

_Present_

She stood awkwardly on the bottom step, shifting her feet as she saw Mikael hug her mother. Christa knew it was time to walk away from the comfort of her mother’s house and find her way in the world.

It was a miracle that the German Union of Wizards had taken her on as an apprentice in their code-breaking department. It was a highly sought-after place that Christa felt she did not deserve despite all the hours she spent acing her UWEs. It was a huge step in the right direction, and Mikael had encouraged her to take the place, stating that she deserved it after all that she had done for herself.

With the promise that her mother would be taken care of, she felt much more comfortable with the idea of leaving, but that didn’t mean it was any easier.

Pulling her suitcase, she waved goodbye to her mother before turning away with a quick, “I’ll see you soon, Mama.”

With the heavy suitcase rattling against the slightly uneven floor, Christa walked away from her mother, and Mikael, and continued in the direction of the closest apparition station in the city. She glanced back to see Mikael steering her mother into the house, dabbing at her face with a tissue as he did so.

It was a hard move, but with her dark curls tied in a messy bun, and her flowy, silk trousers trailing slightly behind her as her small heels clicked against the pavement, she knew it was the right choice.

The move was one towards her future.


	4. The Black Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christa is not sure which is scarier. The Black Forest or what comes after.

“Aleksei! There’s more over here!” Christa yelled to her partner as she crouched down, waving her wand over the white material that had been poorly covered by the autumn leaves.

Aleksei’s heavy footsteps trudged through the fallen leaves, careful of where his feet landed. They had discovered the product of a beast’s hunger for young lives after following a trail of lost children from the nearby villages and towns. His heart jumped as he saw his colleague kneeling over another pearly remnant of one of the children.

“Shit, Christa.”

“Yeah.”

When Christa had accepted the assignment, she hadn’t known that she would be working with such an awful case. She had been tasked with the warding of the Black Forest, but after hearing the stories of children going missing… she couldn’t just leave it.

Taking her wand out of her pocket (Mikael would have gone ballistic if he knew she stored it there), Christa waved her wand gently over the pile of too-small bones that had been strewn just below the surface of the leaves. The non-verbal tracking spell was one they had had to use too many times during their venture into the forest. Each time, the tracking spell would lead to the next family’s tragedy.

“Further up North, Alek.” Christa said with a sigh, marking the place she had found the poor child with a burn mark on her small map. She would come back with another department to help find who they were.

She did not mean to drag her best friend and colleague into the mess with her. She had warded the outside of the forest so that no muggles would want to pass its border. Whether it was howling animals inside the forest, or an intense feeling of discomfort that had them traveling another route, the ward kept them safe from the enthralling screeches of the Erklings.

While Christa would not be the one to take care of them, she was planning to ward the area where they hunted and slept to trap them. The rest of the work was up to the Abteilung that was supposed to handle this.

Slapping her hands on her bellbottom jean-clad thighs, she pushed herself into standing, sparing a glance at the remains before beginning her way north with Aleksei not far behind her. 

“We must be getting close now, Christa, right?” Alexa said, his long legs able to catch up to her quickly.

“I really hope so,” Was all she could say. Her teeth worried her lip as she looked at her map of the forest, pointedly keeping her eyes away from the dozen burn marks that each signified the remains of someone’s child. It was by far the most emotionally taxing job she had done so far. Working with the Gringotts goblins during her work with the Goblin Liaison Office couldn’t compare.

High pitched laughter tickled in the wind for a few seconds, the trees swaying a little more violently for a second before a weird silence encapsulated the area.

The chilly autumn air seemed to warm as the silence settled. When they heard the cackle again, it felt oddly compelling. Even as young adults, both Christa and Aleksei felt the pull, and sent a glance at each other. 

Erklings were nasty creatures, their laughter compelled children, luring them away from their parents and into the darkness of the forest where no one would find them. Despite their jobs not usually working with live threats, the two partners had excelled in their respective magical schools in their defense courses.

Their positions were given to them for a reason.

Christa knelt down almost silently, moving the leaves away from the hard dirt floor to trace a ward into the floor with the point of her wand, before wordlessly waving over it, causing it to glow very slightly. Though the glow was almost unnoticeable, she grimaced before moving some of the leaves back over it to hide the evidence of magic from the creatures that seemed to be closer than they wanted.

Taking a silent step – unnatural compared to his usually heavy gait – Aleksai tapped her shoulder, bringing her attention to the light that was slowly moving through the trees, its glow seeming to come closer as they stood still amongst the dense foliage. With a hand gesture, Aleksei gestured to the left of them.

The darts that Erklings employed were exquisite for such a base-need creature. If they weren’t careful, they would be faced with the crafted weapon.

Christa was the more inventive wizard among them, charming both of their feet to step silently among the strewn leaves as to not alert the creatures. Despite not being able to communicate, they had both worked together for the past couple of years, and were unnaturally synced to each other’s movements and thoughts. The years of work, though rewarding, had meant that they had to be clued in to each other’s strengths and weaknesses, with Christa being one of the leading ward specialists in contact with the German government, and Aleksei excelling more in codebreaking (though both were exceptional at each other’s specialisations as well).

Ducking to the left, Aleksei ensured they had the plan sorted, and drew a half circle on his hand in Christa’s view.

Circle round and trap them between the two wards. One in front, one behind. Afterward, Christa could solidify the ward cage with tighter spells, but for now, keep them still, and keep them from coming for them.

She nodded.

The sharp-faced creatures trundled through the forest, just out of full view. Moving silently around them, Christa ensured she had the very back Erkling always in line of sight while Aleksei made sure there weren’t any other in the area who could send an unsuspecting dart at them.

The group slowly drew closer to the proximity of the first ward that Christa had put down. Now fully behind the small group who had somehow had a hand in the deaths of many innocent lives, she placed down the second ward, kneeling on the ground to draw it with a precision few could claim they had.

She didn’t try to hide the light of the connection between the wards. At the burst of magical activity, the Erklings started to shout in oddly human voices in a language Christa could not say that she could recognise.

“Partum decipula!” She shouted aloud, sealing them into the ward cage for the time being.

“Second line, there’s a fault!” Aleksei shouted over, stabilising the magic that she had cast, and helping to layer the cage, “Link more wards, we need more bases!”

From there, it wasn’t hard. More wards were drawn around the edges of the existing area and linked with the existing bases. 

Pressing her wand to her throat, she mumbled a spell and spoke clearly into the air, ensuring her wand was pressed against her voice box.

“Wards complete for the forest, need immediate backup from the Creature Department. Erklings warded and caged.”

With that, the two could simply and watch as the thorned faces glared at them, clawing at the boundaries of the ward cage, and attempting to shoot their darts at the two wizards who had decided to take up position on the ground.

Christa sat comfortably on the dirt floor, legs kicked out in front of her, unworried about dirtying her muggle clothes, and watching the creatures. There was no way she could describe the creatures and give them justice. Their legs and arms looked like the thorned stems of dried out roses, their bodies mottled and dented. Their heads were nothing that the imagine could have conjured. The long neck extended to a mouth that seemed like it stretched across half of their head in a horrifyingly amused grimace. Large, red beady eyes lay below solid, thorn-like extremities that reached out in much the same way hair would on top of their head, and their nose stuck out crooked, and witch-like.

They were beyond the realms of imagination, and something within her reminded her that their stomachs were full of the children of unsuspecting families who had been lured in by the cackles that still filled the air, even as they clawed dangerously at the barriers that they were locked behind.

* * *

“Ms. Albrecht, thank you for coming in,” Her boss said carefully, “You did good work with the Black Forest situation.”

“Thank you, sir,” Christa replied simply.

He gestured at her simply to take a seat on the other side of his desk as he pushed what paperwork he was working on to the side to place his full attention on the young women in front of him.

“I am going to say it simply. Your abilities are better suited elsewhere than our organisation, and we have had an offer after word got out about your exploits.”

Christa simply stared blankly at the man. He was a tall man, with a completely shaved head, and – for lack of a better way to say it – was scarred to all hell. His time within the Code-breaking department had not been kind to him, and he had been caught unawares when they had dug up an ancient wizarding site.

“The Ministry of Magic in England has asked for your services,” He said, looking her in the eye as she shifted slightly uncomfortably in her seat. “You do have the option to say no here, however, I would suggest that for the future of your career, that this would be an excellent step to take.”

She pulled her gaze from him and looked at the chipped wood of his desk.

“Sir, I am only concerned for the state of their wizarding war right now- “

“And for good reason, Ms. Albrecht. However, I have brought this to you now in light of this morning’s news.”

He smiled slightly, softening the harsh lines of his many scars as he reached into the top draw of his desk to draw out a slightly crumped edition of the English Daily Profit.

Christa reached out for it, pulling the front page taught as her eyes caught on the headline.

“ **HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED DEAD** ”

She couldn’t help the gasp that involuntarily escaped as she flicked through the paper. Harry Potter – The Boy Who Lived – had killed a dark wizard at the tender age of barely a year old, and was left orphaned. Peter Pettigrew and hundreds of other death eaters in Azkaban after being complicit with this terrorist group.

“Good Lord.” Was all she could say when she looked back at her boss who was sporting a small smile.

“Indeed – this is a huge step for Britain, and indeed the rest of Europe as well, and they have requested you as a German representative to help aid the rebuild,” His eyes looked once more into hers, and she felt like he could see everything in that single glance.

It was the chance of her lifetime, and she would have taken it at the first mention if it hadn’t been for the fact that the Ancient House of Black was an ancient _English_ pureblood family. The words on her back itched with the thought of seeing her soulmate, but her head hurt at the thought of wrestling with the English law system on soulmate meetings.

Fuck it.

“I’ll do it, sir. Please give me a month to get my business here sorted,” Christa reached out to shake her boss's hand, and he firmly stood to set his hand in hers, “Ich bedanke mich bei ihnen, dass sie mir die gelegenheit gegeben haben.”

“It has been an honour to be your head of department, and I would love to have you back as deputy when you have completed your work over there.”

“I- thank you so much, sir, I will not waste what you have given me,” Christa said quickly, her grip tightening on the copy of the Profit that was clenched in the fist that she held at her side, “I will take my leave now.”

He simply nodded, sitting back down, before waving a hand nonchalantly. Never had Christa left a room so quickly (apart from maybe after showing her mother her soulmark). 

First things first: How to get around the English soulmate laws…

And perhaps call Oktyabrina.


	5. Chapter 5

“You’ve… what,” Came the unimpressed voice over the phone.

Christa paused for a moment, twizzling the chord of the desk phone around one finger as she contemplated whether Oktyabrina actually wanted her to repeat what she just said, or if she was being dramatic again.

“You’ve decided to go to _England_ – a country you’ve never been to, and have no loyalty to – to go and represent the German government – who you have said more than enough are awful employers – and have seemed to ignore the fact that the English soulmate system is one of the most archaic in the world _and_ that your soulmate is likely a blood purist?”

Ah, dramatic it was then.

“Uh, yes?”

“Are you actually stupid or do I need to book you into the hospital?”

That forced a startled chuckle from Christa, who relaxed slightly as she held the chunky phone. 

“Voldemort has been killed according to all the papers over there! Surely, I won’t be for that long, and the _opportunity_ to speak to so many accomplished witches and wizards. You must understand that their education is vastly different to ours, it could be a wonderful experience!” Christa argued to one of her best friends, “I’ve researched their system, and though it is very old fashioned, there are a couple of ways around it as a member of the German system. Realistically, I could either hide or if that’s not possible, procure a wizarding law expert to help negotiate their law to something closer to ours.”

There was a pause.

“Look, Girly. You may have researched it, and you may see the good in people now, but…” there was a small sigh on the other end, “people aren’t always good, and the law isn’t easy.”

“I get that-“

“Don’t interrupt me girly. You may be a curse-breaking and ward master in Germany, but you are _naïve_ ,” Oktyabrina began, “so at least let me come with you, and we can rent an apartment not far from the ministry?”

A grin made its way onto Christa’s face, and she jumped up a little in her office chair to lean over her desk.

“Oak, have I ever told you how much I appreciate and love you?” She grinned.

“You have, but I would like to hear it again.” Came the deadpan voice.

“I appreciate and love you so much!”

“Much better. So, when abouts do you need to leave to go?”

“Mmmm, about 2 weeks from now is when I start? I took a little time researching and consulted some of my friends in the international law section about soulmate law, and have tried to finish all my current assignments,” Christa looked at the pile of paperwork in front of her with a scowl, “but I’m not quite done yet. Does maybe a week and a half sound okay to you? I can find an apartment in London for us and- “

“I will do the apartment finding. I doubt you will _quite_ grasp the needs that we will have while you work.”

Oktya was a creature of comfort when it came to it. Growing up in a large pureblood home had spoiled her despite her time at Koldovstoretz; though the school had sobered her world view and eventually her monetary desires, it was only natural that the girl would want to place her personal touch on the flat they were likely to share.

Christa nodded, unthinking of the fact that her friend could not in fact see her, “of course, of course! Is it bad I’m actually really excited? Do you think I can come and see you and your Ma and we can travel from Russia instead?”

Unbeknownst to Christa, Oktyabrina was smiling into her father’s office phone thousands of miles away.

“Mama would love to have you round. I will set up a floo from your office to the estate. There’s some political faff happening at current, so it would be best not to be seen in public.”

“Just call me about a time later on, and I’ll be there! Thank you so much Oak,” Christa paused, “I know I’m not the most amazing friend all the time, but I just want to say thank you for being here.”

A scoff came from down the line, “Not the most amazing friend? God, you are delusional sometimes. You’re just fine. I’m hanging up now.”

The phone went dead, and Christa let out a small laugh as she stared at the receiver where her friend’s voice once was (what an amazing piece of muggle technology, she lamented). Though Oktyabrina wasn’t a soft woman, and the years she had spent traversing Russian wizarding politics after she left Koldovstoretz had hardened her further, she was loyal to the friends she had and had ambition in droves. It was always amazing to see when Christa had the chance to go see her again.

If she was honest, Christa’s plan, should she ever encounter her soulmate, was one that balanced on the German soulmate laws. They were one of the most liberal laws in the world, stipulating only 6 months of contact, and no residential agreement. Within those parameters, the specifics such as how much contact within that time, can be negotiated between the parties involved. 

If she could haggle it down to that, she would be amazed, however, she was very much aware that nothing was that easy when it came to the English.

* * *

It was wet. Wet, cold, dreary. Drearier than Russia, Oktyabrina kept saying.

Christa, despite her aversion to the cold in general, had grown up in Southern Germany which wasn’t a terribly different climate. Wrapped to the droves with a scarf and bobble-hat, she stared at the tall building that her friend had acquired in the Devon countryside. Instead of renting it as agreed, the Solvyov matriarch had not been pleased to know that her daughter and the young woman she had come to consider a family member would be living in a home dependent on a stranger. Thusly, the home was now the property of the Solvyov dynasty, and written in the youngest daughter’s name, providing a safe house within the previously war-torn country.

“It’s beautiful.”

Christa grasps her best friend’s hand within her own gloved one, staring up at her with excitement. The taller woman just rolled her eyes at her best friend, wondering how the doe-eyed woman before her was the ambitious and ruthless girl that had blasted through the glass ceiling of the German Ministry.

“I know it is. I chose it, after all. Are you happy to do the wards and protective spells, Chris?” She said, pulling her hand from her friend, but not before giving her friend an affectionate glance. She made her way through the front garden and to the larger-than-life front door that separated the house from the acres of green around it. It truly was a beautiful home, smaller than what the Russian heir was used to, but beautiful nonetheless. In the spring, she could see that it would come to life, and with the right cultivation – from paid gardeners, as neither witch had a particular affinity to plants – it would be awe-inspiring. Exactly what Oktya aimed for.

Christa grinned, “Wards are what I was made for, sister.”

Though curse-breaking was her speciality, her time within the government had made her nothing if not resourceful.

From there, it wasn’t hard. Linking the wards to the Solvyov family magiks had proved the most time-consuming due to its propensity to misbehave; if it caused havoc when it liked the wardsman who created it, Christa had no idea what the poor sod who came across the magiks would look like if it didn’t like them.

For her, it felt like a consuming warmth, eating up the cold and damp of the home. It was malleable despite its strength and boasted a type of glee that could only be described as childish when handled. The magiks were not something that many witches and wizards messed with due to their ability to hurt, maim and even kill those who attempted to wield or interact with them if they did not like the user. Christa was a witch of talent despite her muggle ancestry. She often thought that her interaction with the magiks firmly disproved any theories of muggleborns being lesser – the only thing it cared about was the person itself, so why should that not be reflected within modern witches and wizards as well.

Christa sighed, standing up and brushing off her dusty knees after she had knelt in the epicentre of the building’s magical core.

It truly was beautiful. Four bedrooms, a spacious living room, and a kitchen-dining-room. It was more than a house for two needed.

“Oktya, I’m all finished!” She shouted up the stairs.

“Merlin, woman. You can just use your wand instead of shouting, don’t be so improper,” the heiress teased as she exited the room she had claimed to check over the work that had been done, and ensure that the magiks were content within the core they had chosen. “I still cannot understand how you survive without lineage power – they boost much of what the pureblood families do.”

Christa shuffled slightly, but the grin on her face kept, “Who needs family magik when you have raw talent. It’s more than you can say.”

Rolling her eyes, Oktya eyed the floor with a grimace, producing her wand to do a quick cleaning spell before kneeling herself. She looked dirtily at the shorter girl’s knees.

“Get changed, you heathen, and start cleaning up that room of yours.”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” Christa chortled, smiling down at the kneeling woman.

The two friends were truly inseparable in their time at Koldovstoretz, and a part of them felt as if they belonged together. The years spent apart with rare visits between their working hours, while not damaging the friendship, did pull on the sibling-like bond the women had with each other.

_And they were glad to be back together… even if neither would admit to it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 has been edited to contain some more small details about how Christa looks! I don't visualise books at all, so honestly in my head Christa is more of a named colourless blob, so it never occurred to me


End file.
